This city is an important stop on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the gateway to southwestern Virginia, a wide-ranging region of mountains and resorts. In town, visit the various museums—devoted to art, history and science—housed in a vintage 1914 warehouse called Center in the Square. And don't miss the farmers market in the heart of downtown—it's been operating for more than a century. You'll also want to pay a visit to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which breathes new life into the iron horses of yesteryear.
There's plenty of opportunity to kick back at resort areas such as Peaks of Otter and Smith Mountain Lake, and ambitious hikers can pick up the Appalachian Trail near Roanoke. Everyone should drive on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway if they haven't had the opportunity to do so elsewhere in the state.
East of town, you'll find the Booker T. Washington National Monument, a working farm that pays tribute to the great African-American educator, statesman and visionary. In Bedford, also to the east, is a D-Day memorial. The 45-ft/14-m stone arch was erected in Bedford because the town lost a greater percentage of men at the battle than any other town in the U.S. Roanoke is 140 mi/225 km west of Richmond.
